Enchanted April

While we were in Florence I had an interesting conversation with the (non-Italian) owner of an internet café.  I told him at one point that I had lived in Italy as a teenager, he asked where.  I told him that I had lived up north – vicino a Milano.  “Ah, the civilized part of Italy,” was his response.  I laughed. 

Northern Italy is stunning.  For me, it is also a little piece of home.  I only lived there for one year, but that one year was so full and so rich that it (even now, after 20 years) is as bright and vivid in my memory as if it were yesterday.

We stayed in a beautiful guest home on a blueberry farm in the middle of the Campo dei Fiori near Varese (the town where I went to school).  The roads to get to the farm were a little hair raising, but the location was perfect.  We had a beautiful view, there were fields where the kids could run around, trees for the kids to climb, and lizards for the kids to chase.  I would go back in a heartbeat.

          

        

It really was heavenly.  Our first afternoon there (we had spent the morning driving up from Florence) was just what we needed at the time.  We sat outside on the porch and read while the kids ran around.  I also watched some Smallville (fantastic!) in Italian.  I could totally understand it!  Of course it helped that I had seen the episode before….

We went to eat at THE MOST fantastic restaurant.  Amazing.  We had this cheese…..heavenly.  And, the restaurant owners were wonderful with Ian and Naomi (especially Naomi – Italians still like their blondes!).  They even brought out puzzles and toys for the kids to play with while we waited for our food.  I was so grateful.  Restaurants in Italy tend to open at or after our kids’ bedtime, so maintaining good behavior in restaurants during that trip was somewhat of a challenge for them.  My behavior problem in that restaurant was more related to food – like not eating too much of it.  Let’s just say I wasn’t too happy to see the scale when we got back.

We spent our last couple of days in Italy seeing some of the sights on and around Lago Maggiore.  If you ever get to Italy, you MUST visit Lago Maggiore.  Here is one of the reasons why…

La Rocca – A medieval castle in Angera which is situated on the top of a hill overlooking the lake.  The kids loved the medieval life displays and particularly enjoyed the mechanical toy section of the doll museum.

  

We are actually in both of the above pictures.  Can you see us near the gateway in the first one?  We kind of blend into the rock.  (Well, at least, I do.)

      

      

                 

 

 

Unfortunately we had a couple of really rather cold and foggy days up North.  The views are normally stunning.  Imagine snow peaked Alps in the background…

We (of course) found a way to climb to the top of one of the towers.  Naomi was feeling particularly photogenic along the way. 

Ian not so much.

  

He had just whacked his head on something.  I’m not exactly sure what.  Most likely he was doing something I had told him not to.  Anyway, this was the best smile he would give me.

The (well worth the climb) view…

  

And finally, waiting for the boys (eh-hem) to use the facilities…

      

        

A couple of the best things about living in Europe are a) traveling during off-peak times and b) visiting places that aren’t so famous that they’re always jam packed with tourists (like La Rocca).  There are so many, many beautiful and fascinating places here that are only frequented by locals and that just aren’t known by Americans.  It is, of course, fun to see things like the leaning tower of Pisa, but it is equally (or more fun) to explore something unknown.  If you ever get a chance to live in Europe, TAKE IT!  You just can’t get the full experience in a 10 day tour.